BBC Radio 1 Newsbeat

 Newsbeat analysis

1) What news stories were featured in the bulletin you listened to?

Youth issues, entertainment, politics.

2) How does Newsbeat appeal to a youth audience?

Informal language stories

Diverse experiences

Short and simple

3) How might Newsbeat help fulfil the BBC's responsibilities as a public service broadcaster

Informs young audiences by presenting news in an accessible and relevant way.

Educates by explaining important issues (like politics or health) in simple terms.

Media Factsheet #246: BBC Radio 1 Newsbeat

1) How is the history and launch of Radio 1 summarised in the factsheet?

Radio 1 was set-up to rival these pirate stations and put them out of business, which it successfully did.

2) Look at page 3 of the factsheet. How is Radio 1 attempting to appeal to its 15-29 age demographic? 

It aims to entertain and engage young listeners with a distinctive mix of contemporary music and speech.

The programmes showcase a wide range of new music styles. News, documentaries and other speech content focuses on areas of relevance to young adults in the UK today and aims to help them make sense of the world around them.

3) What did young people used to get from radio? Focus on audience pleasures / Uses & Gratifications here (see top of second column on page 3).

To connect themselves to popular culture products (identity).

• To gain an insight into the world beyond their own experience:

relationships, romance, politics (information and surveillance).

• To build para-social relationships with media personalities

(both musicians and DJs) – create fandoms.

• For pure entertainment.

4) How has Radio 1 and Newsbeat in particular diversified its content for the digital age? 

BBC Sounds app, and social media. 

5) How is Newsbeat constructed to appeal to audiences? 

Broadcast during the week on Radio 1, 1Xtra and Asian Network at 12:45 and 17:45. It is fifteen minutes long. Short bulletins are also heard throughout the day on three stations on the half-hour with extra

bulletins broadcast at peak times.

6) What are the three key ideas from David Hesmondhalgh and which apply to Radio 1 Newsbeat?

Cultural Industries are made

to create profit. No The BBC is a PSB provider, free from commercial impulses. All profits go back into making more content for the people.

Content production is made by ‘symbol creators’. Yes The diverse output of Radio 1 and Newsbeat is huge. Creators are governed by professional guidelines but they are also free to be creative to make products to excite youth audiences.

The internet has not challenged the centralised power of providers or allowed audiences to challenge content.

Yes Radio 1 and Newsbeat is finding it difficult to challenge the social media giants in targeting a youth audience, but it does try to utilise these platforms with its content.

7) Now look at Curran and Seaton. What are their key ideas and can they be applied to Radio 1 Newsbeat? 

The media is concentrated in the hands of powerful commercial media giants. No

Culture is controlled by social elites. No

8) What key idea for Livingstone and Lunt is on the factsheet and how does it link to the CSP?

Media can have a citizen-based approach to regulation. Yes

9) How can we apply Stuart Hall's Reception theory to Radio 1 Newsbeat?

The BBC tries to appeal to young people with its content, but it faces competition from other platforms that appear to be catering for them in a better, more appealing way.

10) Choose one other audience theory on the factsheet and explain how it links to Radio 1 Newsbeat.

The media constructs a range of identities which audiences are free to choose from. Yes

Industry contexts: reading and research

Read the first five pages of this Ofcom document laying out its regulation of the BBC. 

1) Pick out three key points in the 'Summary' section.

1. The public has exceptionally high expectations of the BBC, shaped by its role as a publicly-funded broadcaster with a remit to inform, educate and entertain the public, and to support the creative economy across the UK.

2. the Charter gives Ofcom the job of setting the BBC’s operating licence (the Licence). This sets binding conditions, requiring the BBC to deliver for licence feepayers. It is also our job to scrutinise, measure and report on the BBC’s performance.

2) Now read what the license framework will seek to do (letters a-h). Which of these points could we relate to BBC Radio 1 Newsbeat?

Strengthen news and current affairs rules. Increase requirements around programmes for children. Support social action campaigns on BBC radio. Safeguard vulnerable genres such as arts, music and religious programmes. Support regional and national audiences, and creative economies across the UK.

3) Read point 1.9: What do Ofcom plan to review in terms of diversity and audience? 

We will take into account the outcomes of the review as we shape our future oversight of the BBC, and we will take further measures where needed to ensure that the BBC is delivering for all its audiences.

4) Based on your reading and research, do you think BBC Radio 1 Newsbeat offers licence fee payers good value for money?

I guess it's providing good quality news and entertainment, but people do not necessarily want this at their expense of their own wallet. Especially those who do not use it (which is a large amount), as it has been established that radio is essentially a dying industry.